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 Researchers and scientists have long been aware that a diet heavy in fatty foods during a child’s formative years greatly increases the risk of obesity in later life. However, current research has shown that a fatty diet during puberty may also be a significant factor in the risk of breast cancer in women.
A recent study conducted by the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center at Michigan State University indicates that a high-fat diet during the crucial years of puberty may lead to the production of inflammatory substances in the mammary glands of adults, and these in turn can lead to malignancies.
These findings are a progression from other research into the effect of the hormone progesterone, which also triggers inflammation in the mammary glands. The effects of progesterone and those of a fatty diet are similar; both cause inflammation that can lead to the growth of cancer.
Expanding the MSU study, director Sandra Haslam, professor of physiology, and Richard Schwartz, an associate dean in the College of Natural Science and professor of microbiology, will lead another team of researchers.
This continuing study will analyze the effects of high-fat diet and the relationship to breast cancer in adult females. The researchers are looking at environmental factors that may predispose women to the disease. The team led by Haslam and Schwartz will also be looking for possible preventive measures including anti-inflammation substances that could reduce or reverse the effects of a fatty diet.
In addition to their findings on cause and effect of various environmental factors, the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program will also strive to expand the general awareness of these factors by making this ongoing research readily available to the public.
With an estimated 180,000 students not getting into university this September, students were faced with the uncertainty of their future. One website helping students to explore their options is Notgoingtouni.co.uk, which aims to help young people make informed decisions about their future by showing the opportunities that exist outside of university. University is great for many people & UCAS has long existed to show students the courses available. Notgoingtouni.co.uk shows the other side and is often described as the ‘non-graduate UCAS’.
The scale of interest in non-University options has been unprecedented this year. notgoingtouni.co.uk reported a record 10,000 visitors to the website on A-Level Results Day, around double the level from the previous year.
Managing Director Spencer Mehlman believes “there has definitely been a change in student’s perceptions towards university, its associated debt and its value to their career. Today’s students are keen to explore vocational qualifications and are starting to view them as a viable route to success”.
 Women that receive psychological support from health visitors with training are far less likely to suffer from post natal depression according to a new study from the universities of Sheffield, Leicester, and Nottingham.
The study took a look at 2,000 women after childbirth from 101 primary care teams in England’s Trent area. The women were monitored for 18 months with 1,500 of the women receiving mental support from trained health visitors while another 767 received the normal standard of care.
All of the women in the study were depression free and six months had passed since their children were delivered.
The study discovered that those who were visited by a mental health trained health visitor were 30% less likely to suffer from post natal depression at the six month mark after delivery compared to those who did not receive visits from those with mental health training.
 The NSPCC revealed that every week over 100 children call the helpline provided for children aptly titled Childline out of concern for their parents’ habitual drug and alcohol use.
In the month of March alone about 5,700 children called the helpline and stated that they were having problems because their parents would not stop taking drugs or drinking. 66% of the children were worried that their parents drink too much.
Over the entire year over 150,000 calls were recorded and even some from children as young as five reporting that their parents were drinking too much alcohol. Many of the children who called the helpline also stated that they were responsible for their younger siblings because their parents were not able to properly care for the family.
Sue Minto, the head of Childline, stated that children that live in homes with substance abuse are at a higher risk of harm then those who do not.
This made me laugh. A parody by kids on how adults behave in road rage situations. Enjoy.
 Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Professor Steve Field, stated that parents need to take responsibility long before conception after new research from America reveals that many cot deaths may be the result of women that smoke while pregnant. In fact, evidence from the US shows that more children die as the result of parental smoking then they do from accidents.
However, the ban on smoking in cars with children asked for by the Royal College was attacked immediately as a violation of civil liberties.
Professor Field stated that people need to be more responsible for their own health and the health of their children, which is a new part of the new government that has claimed it will not regulate as much.
Public Health Minister, Anne Milton, stated that there is very clear evidence that shows legislation to make places smokefree is worth a great deal and that public places and workspaces are already smokefree. In fact, a great deal of families already have smokefree homes, which means it is not impossible to expect other parents to do the same on their own accord.
Milton continued to say that a majority of smokers are even in support of smokefree public places and given this fact there is little reason to take another look at it, but the department will continue to look at the growing evidence for further tobacco control.
Professor Field added that GPs are left with the tough task of trying to tell people that they must live a healthier lifestyle by offering them a clear understanding of what the benefits of such a life are instead of simply outlining the negatives of such behaviour.
He explained that if you simply say that patient needs to quit smoking they likely will not, but if you show how it can harm their children they may change their mind.
 Cisco Customer Kings has awarded family orientated company Tots to Travel, for excellent customer service.
The company research holidays and accommodation around Eastern Europe and recommend the best family friendly holidays. All their hotels and properties are thoroughly inspected and reported on by mothers so customers can feel assured they are receiving the best advice.
Properties have to pass an extensive check-list before they are even considered by the Tots to Travel company.
Each property has detailed information about safety features and any hazards that families should be aware of. The properties also have baby essentials like plastic dinner wares, high chairs and also extensive safety measures like covers for all the electrical sockets. Details of baby-sitting facilities and family excursions available on each holiday are also available on the site.
Tots to Travel founder, Wendy Shand is over the moon at winning the Customer King award. Shand founded the company after her son fell into a hotel swimming pool; she felt there should be more family orientated holidays that focused on the safety aspect also.
The site also provides a shop full of handy safety gadgets perfect for taking away on family holidays.
Tots to Travel received high scoring feedback from 91 percent of their customers last year making it hard for the Customer King awards not to notice them.
 For years the problem of overweight and obesity in children has been considered an affliction of the lower classes, but this is really not the case, as evidenced by the new line of clothing for ages 3 to 16 recently introduced by Marks & Spencer.
In response to customer request, the top-selling retailer for British school wear just came out with their “plus size” range of clothing, cut 2 ½ inches larger than the regular lines to accommodate wider waists and hips.
The larger measurements translate to clothing sized for the ‘average’ eight-year-old boy appearing in the four-year-old section, and women’s size 18 in the girl’s sixteen-year-old range. Spokespersons for Marks & Spencer said that last week’s launch of the Plus Fit line was a trial run, and the response from consumers will determine whether the company continues the line on a permanent basis.
M & S is not the first in their attempt to cater to this new trend; BHS had the idea in 2005, and other retailers such as Next and Asda have already introduced the larger sizes in children’s lines.
The move by Marks & Spencer underlines an ongoing controversy in the field of national health care. Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation and member of the National Obesity Forum, said that this is just the “commercial recognition” of a problem that has grown alarmingly worse in the past two decades.
About 27% of British children are overweight or obese by the time they enter primary school, and the fault lies not only with parents, but more specifically with the government, which he says has failed in its obligation to regulate the food industry.
A nurse from Utah is expecting to give birth to two children, but what makes her experience different is that the children are not twins, but instead two different embryos in two different uteruses, due to the fact that she was born with a double uterus.
The mother, Angie Cromar, is not having twins, but instead two children that are growing next to each other and will be born one week apart.
Cromar is age 34 and has had to successful pregnancies already in life, each separately in the regular fashion. Her first ultrasound revealed that she was carrying two children; this time however, the scan also showed that the children are at different stages in their development.
Cromar’s doctor, Dr. Steve Terry, stated that the news came as quite a surprise.
 There are a set of complications that can come from children that are born from a double uterus including the fact that the condition is often not diagnosed, and women who have it are more likely to have a premature birth or miscarriage.
The actual chances of getting pregnant simultaneously in both uteruses is one in five million with fewer than 100 such occurrences reported across the globe.
Cromer stated that she knows the complications that are possible and is nervous but is still excited about the babies.
 A new survey by Family Friendly Working and mumandworking.com in an effort to start up the mumandworking awards revealed that parents are still choosing to leave the workplace even though it means that their family income will drop as a result. The survey also showed that parents choose time with their family and jobs that offer flexible hours over the amount they earn and job security when choosing a job.
About 80% of the parents included in the survey change their working pattern once they started to have children. The predominant reason that people changed is because they wanted to spend more time at home with their family. About half of the parents stated that their priorities changed with another three out of ten reporting that there was not proper childcare available for their work schedules.
Another three out of twenty parents stated that it was not financially worth it to continue to work because of the high cost of childcare cancelling out any profit. Most parents in the survey stated they are happy with their decision with not one respondent answering that they made the wrong choice by leaving a job. An additional 40% felt that leaving the workplace was the best decision they made.
Out of those who responded to the survey, 43% of the parents were employed and the rest were self-employed, taking a career break, studying, or looking for work. A small 17% were employed full time.
The financial impact is very real with seven out of ten families reporting their income has fallen and four in ten stating that at times they now struggle.
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Researchers and scientists have long been aware that a diet heavy in fatty foods during a child’s formative years greatly increases the risk of obesity in later life. However, current research has shown that a fatty diet during puberty may also be a significant factor in the risk of breast cancer in women.
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